Commercialization of the plate-free DICOweb Picks up Pace

Tuesday, April 30, 2002

Press release from the issuing company

Westmont, Illinois -- DICOweb, the offset press that prints without plates, is leveraging its success as a major attraction at IPEX, with several new installations now underway.
MAS Matbaacilik A.S., based in Istanbul, Turkey, has bought a 16-page heatset configuration of the DICOweb, similar to the one that was demonstrated at IPEX. The company plans to use the system to produce short-run magazines, taking advantage of DICOweb’s rapid makereadies to make its customer’s publications more timely.
With a staff of 60 and three sheetfed presses, MAS Matbaacilik also produces quality art books, brochures, and magazines. The company will connect its existing digital prepress workflow directly to its new DICOweb, eliminating the need for platesetters, plates and all the processing and expense they require.
Meanwhile, the 16-page DICOweb that was the star attraction is IPEX is being shipped to Bern, Switzerland for installation at one of that nation’s most successful printers - Stämpfli.
Plus, an identical DICOweb is about to be installed at MohnMedia AG in Gutersloh, Germany.
That nation is home to the first commercial DICOweb installation at a printer that produces short-run community publications - Nussbaum Medien (Media) in the Black Forest city of Weil der Stadt. The company chose to become the world’s first DICOweb printer because the innovation offered a single-source solution to variety of emerging production challenges.
"Anyone familiar with the medium of official bulletins and notifications knows what counts is speed, reliability, and print quality, in addition to the desire for more color," says Oswald Nussbaum, who founded and manages the company.
"We've been sold on the revolutionary technology of the DICOweb from the very beginning," he explains. "The DICOweb allows full-color low-cost production, even with shortest runs, and that makes our bulletins, which used to be two-color, more attractive to readers and advertisers."
DICO stands for digital changeover, and the press lives up to its name, capable of speeding from job-to-job in under 12 minutes. Less than two of those minutes are required for imaging the press. An exclusive MAN Roland design utilizes laser imaging heads and a patented thermoplastic transfer medium to apply the job directly to the DICOweb’s image carrying cylinders. Then when the print run is completed, the image is automatically erased to ready the cylinders for the next project.
The innovation’s unique ability to image, erase and re-image jobs - eliminating the time and expense of making and loading plates - results in significant productivity gains for printers who use DICOweb.